Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Phewww

Phew, what a day. So I'm enjoying a day off, it's 1pm and I'm just nodding off for a little nap when I get a call from the Wall Street Journal to head down to the Border to get some Mexican truckers crossing over into the U.S. And then, the phone rings, "oh by the way, you have a half hour to shoot this",(hang-up, hit the road) phone rings again, "Oh yeah, this is for A-1 so make it look good!" "And 1 more thing, It has to be Mexican truckers coming into the U.S. not going in". OK, no pressure here. This should be a cinch, there is only a cartel war going on and always a security threat since 9/11 which has made everyone a nervous wreck. Get down there, go right to the Port of Entry for trucks and immediately get approached by a customs agent wondering what the heck I'm doing. Sends me to his boss, and then, out of nowhere, a light shined down from the heavens(figuratively). I tell the boss what I'm doing and he says. "Sure, go ahead, you have free reign of the place". "Huh" My mouth dropped. For any of you who have covered security at the Border, this never happens. You are almost always sent through some crazy chain of command that leads you to some guy sitting at a desk in DC who is never there. I guess it was just one lucky day out of a thousand crappy one's.

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BIO

Freelance photographer based out of San Diego. Some of my regular clients include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek, Getty Images, Reuters, The Associated Press, Corbis. Available for work around Southern California, AZ and Mexico.